Gt Sports Club – Deborah Mayer returns to racing

Circuit Paul Ricard welcomes round two of the 2018 GT Sports Club series, as an extended entry list of 21 cars across three classes prepare to do battle in the south of France. After a thrilling opener at Monza, the GT Sports Club grid will makes its fourth trip to the French Grand Prix venue, and will once again support the Paul Ricard 1000 km of the Blancpain GT Series.

Overall. AF Corse driver Mario Cordoni (#70 Ferrari 488 GT3) took a stunning double victory in Italy to cement his place at the top of the drivers’ standings ahead of this weekend, with Boutsen Ginion’s Karim Ojjeh trailing by nine points after a sweep of second place finishes last time out.

Iron Cup. In the Iron Cup, a masterful drive by Kessel Racing’s Stephen Earle (#111 Ferrari 488 GT3) sees him lead the over-60s class standings with 31 points, eight ahead of rival Klaus-Dieter Frers (#3), who will return behind the wheel of a Ferrari 488 GT3 for Artega Rennsport.

New teams. Two completely new teams will head to France. One is BMS Scuderia Italia, a team that used to race Dallara and Lola singleseater in Formula 1 during from the late 80s to the early 90s, fielding the #7 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 for Luigi Lucchini, who scored points on his only GT Sports Club appearance here in 2017.

Kessel Racing. Joining Stephen Earle at Kessel Racing is France’s Deborah Mayer (#8 488 GT3), who took part in last year’s Misano race and is making her comeback to racing after a one-year stop, as well as newcomer Murod Sultanov (#23 488 GT3) and the returning Claudio Schiavoni (#20 488 GT3).

Rinaldi Racing. Rinaldi Racing’s Christian Hook (#33 Ferrari 488 GT3) lies fifth in the championship and will be another one to watch this weekend. The German showed great pace at Monza to storm from the back of the grid to fifth place, recording the fastest lap in the process.

Schedule. Friday’s action at Paul Ricard will consist of two 30-minute practice sessions, followed by a 20-minute qualifying run. Saturday will welcome the 25-minute Qualifying Race in the morning, followed by the 40-minute Main Race in the afternoon.